


A Certain Kind of Irony

by Kirsi



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bad Templars (Dragon Age), Chantry Issues, Circle of Magi, Divine Justinia - Freeform, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Right of Annulment, Rite of Tranquility, The Chantry (Dragon Age), The Conclave (Dragon Age)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 23:46:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21026735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kirsi/pseuds/Kirsi
Summary: The Chantry and the Templars have done horrible transgressions against the mages and to those who love them. Dorian learns a bit about where the Inquisitor's past fits in with all of that.





	A Certain Kind of Irony

**Author's Note:**

> Just character backstory!   
Not gonna lie - the Chantry and the Templars are the height of evil.

Dorian let his head rest on Kieran’s chest as they both laid in the tent and caught their breaths, glancing up at the roof over them. The post-coital bliss running through his body causing him to feel supremely indulgent towards anything the other man might say or do. The whole ‘conversations after sex’ thing is still something Dorian is getting used to. He’s more accustomed to ‘wham, bam, thank you ma’am – now get out’ interactions than he is for luxuriating with his lover in the moments afterwards.

The conversation that Kieran starts tonight is simple enough. He entertains Dorian with his concerns about leaving Sera and Cole together in Skyhold with only Varric to corral them should they get too out of hand – an unlikely scenario as the dwarf will undoubtedly be the true instigator of the whole thing and be running behind them with a paper and quill ready to write it all down. Dorian’s less concerned about him practically adopting Cole and more worried about him calling Sera his most recent ‘muse’.

“You know, it suddenly hits me that you know all about my family.” Dorian starts to say. “Even the…unsavory bits, and I know absolutely nothing about yours.”

“Oh?” Kieran asks, sounding surprised. “Sometimes I figure with the heralds constantly digging into my past that everyone knows the story. Sure, what do you want to know?”

“Tell me whatever pops into your mind.”

“Hmm. My father died when I was two. I never knew him.” Kieran says. “He died of a sickness plaguing Ostwick and I don’t think Mother ever forgave him for not dying in a glorious battle and making a more acceptable story for the demise of the patriarch of the family.” He snorts. “Um…there was my older brother Bryson, my mother’s favorite; my sister Irina, the one we were no longer allowed to talk about; and then there was me.”

“Why couldn’t you talk about your sister?” Dorian asks. “Was she involved in some kind of scandal?”

“Oh, so much worse. Mother had her name ripped out of the family lineages when she turned eighteen. Forbade any mention of her. She was dead to the family – no worse, she never existed as far as Mother and Bryson were concerned.”

“Goodness. Whatever did she do?”

“She became a mage.” Kieran says after a pause. “Mother never forgave her for the stain on the family honor she was when that was revealed.”

“Not exactly something she could control.” Dorian says and it’s still so strange to hear these things. In Tevinter to _not_ be born a mage in one of the upper houses was tantamount to death. But down here in the south is was the exact opposite.

“As funny as it is. Irina once was Mother’s pride and joy.” Kieran says. “She was beautiful. So many of the noble houses made inquiries about potential marriage options for her. Mother was all aflutter at the thought of selling her off to the highest bidder.”

“…you don’t seem to recall your mother fondly.”

“Her and I don’t exactly get along.” Kieran admits. “It wasn’t always like that, but after she called on the Templars to come drag Irina out of bed the night after her powers manifested, I could never look at her the same.” Kieran falls quiet for a bit and Dorian inwardly smacks himself. He should have let it be. He should have never said anything. “You know, sometimes I feel like there’s a certain irony in all of this. A joke from the Maker that I’m just not laughing at yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s just something hilariously funny about all of this. I’ve spent the last few years of my life fighting against the Chantry and against the Templars and now somehow the Chantry calls me it’s newest prophet and the Templars have been disbanded and now bow a knee to me.” He shakes his head. “There’s a certain kind of irony about it all that I can’t shake.”

“You fought against the Chantry?” Dorian asks and Kieran gets really quiet before he nods.

“Yeah. I did. It’s…it’s a story. I’m not sure you want to hear it. It’s not good…and it doesn’t paint me in a good light.”

“If you wish to tell it, I wish to hear it. If you don’t, then I don’t.” Dorian assures him and he hears and feels the other man sigh.

“…You know how you told me once that before you came down to the South, that to you slavery just was? You had no reason to look at it in any kind of light other than it just was how things were because you didn’t know any different?”

“Yeah?”

“I was like that once.” Kieran admits. “Once I was blind to the true evil in Thedas…and then my own sister was revealed to be a mage and my whole life shifted. I’d had no reason to care about the mages, or the Circle, or the Templars or any of that shit. It didn’t affect me. I had no real interactions with it. It just _was_.” Kieran’s fingers stroke up and down Dorian’s arm like he needs to soothe either himself or Dorian. “I never cared. Never knew that I should, but then Irina was gone and everything changed. Suddenly, that nightmare came into my home and I could no longer ignore it. I tried to contact her, tried to reach out – even just keep up a correspondence in letters…but I could never get through to her. My mother told me to drop it, so did Bryson, but I couldn’t do that. Eventually, I happened upon her by mistake…She’d been made Tranquil.” Dorian cringes at that. “I lost it. Demanded that the Chantry mother explain what happened. She would not. I demanded to know the reason for the decision but she sent me away and the Templars found me later trying to get someone to listen and they handed me my ass and sent me home warning me to never come by the Circle again or dare to ask questions. After all, as they said theirs was a ‘holy mission’ and one that was ‘backed by the Maker himself’ so if I went against them, I went against the Maker and they’d have to show me his wrath instead of his love.” Kieran huffs. “Only, I couldn’t let it go. I had to know. This was my sister. We had all abandoned her to that fate once, I was not going to do it again.”

“…what happened?” Dorian asks after there’s a tiny pause.

“I found out the truth.” He says and he says it with such heaviness. “I snuck in, bribed a few of the kitchen staff, managed to sneak past a few of the guards and overhear things. Apparently, Irina had caught the eye of the Templar in charge. When he came to her though, she fought back which apparently all the other girls knew not to do because suddenly they declared her a ‘blood mage’ attempting to escape and murder innocent templars and so they dragged her off and made her Tranquil in the same night. Then, they handed her off to the same Templar she ‘assaulted’ to be his _personal assistant_ from then on out.” Kieran just stares at the roof over them. “It was the first time I can say that I _hated_ someone. I hated him with everything in me. So much hate that I didn’t even know what to do with it. I remember my hands shaking with it and my heart racing and I couldn’t _breathe_ as I struggled with the knowledge of what had happened. Then I learned, it wasn’t the first time. This happened _all_ the time and nobody cared. Why should they, these were just _mages_. The Maker’s hated children.”

“What did you do?”

“I killed him.” Kieran says and Dorian’s only thought is ‘good’. “I snuck into his private quarters and saw him lying there next to her and I put him down like the fucking dog he was.” He’s doing that comforting action again. “…she just stared at me. Nothing in her eyes. That…that wasn’t a person anymore. That’s when I realized that Tranquility was worse than murder. It was a spit in the Maker’s face. Disgusting and vile and…” Kieran cuts off. “…I killed her. I killed her Dorian. She didn’t even flinch, she didn’t try to stop me or talk to me or anything, just laid there and let me do it. So I gave her the mercy that the Chantry and the Circle and those fucking pigs hadn’t given her and I put her body to rest. Her soul was already gone, I just made sure the rest of her followed. I knew…I knew if I left her there she’d just be handed off to someone else. I couldn’t let that happen.” 

“I’m…I’m sorry Amatus.” Dorian says and it’s so sincere and genuine but also not nearly enough for what the man has revealed.

“There was no trail leading back to me, but the Templars and the Chantry mothers declared it an attack on the Maker even though I posted evidence all around Ostwick of what had truly transpired there. They didn’t care. They covered it up and made me – not that they knew it was me – into the guilty party. Conveniently all of the female Tranquil mysteriously died from a wolf attack before any real inquiries could be made so it was determined that the accusations were ‘baseless and just attacking the heart of the Chantry with nothing but lies’. That was the official story.”

“They killed all the Tranquil who might talk.”

“Yup.” Kieran says. “I realized then the evil that the Chantry was. The evil that they all fed into and covered up for each other and these poor people trapped inside of it with no help and no hope of anything changing.” He pauses for a moment. “So I started helping sneak mages out of Ostwick. I helped them flee to Rivain where the Chantry isn’t really a powerhouse and mages are as free as they can be.”

“You started an underground mage operation?” Dorian asks surprised and Kieran nods.

“Carefully, oh so carefully, but yeah. I helped mages escape the Circle. Not nearly enough, but as many as I should have.” He says. “Eventually though, the uprising happened and the Templars decided to ‘Annul’ all the Circles regardless of approval and they slaughtered all the mages and Tranquil still at the Ostwick Circles. I went with Bryson to the Conclave when it was called in hopes that Justinia would be a voice of justice and compromise…but she wasn’t.”

“What?”

“She said ‘it hurt her heart to hear about all of it’ but that was it. ‘It’. That’s what she said. That’s what she called assault and murder and torture on innocent, helpless people. I asked what she was going to do and I got flowery words and assurances that the only way for peace for the masses was for the mages to return to the Circles and for the Templars to return to their duties. She never wanted a compromise between the two groups, she just wanted to say that ‘the Maker’ demanded that the mages submit again and sweep this all under the rug.” He shakes his head. “She had two Tranquil standing there with her. Had the nerve to praise their ‘work ethic’ and how they ‘never complained’. I’m not going to lie, I shed no tear for her death. Cassandra and Leliana might like to pretend that the Conclave was going to work or that it was some grand gesture from Justinia towards peace but let me tell you that was bullshit. And I can also say that a lot less people mourned Justinia’s passing then those two let themselves believe.” He seems to shake off the melancholy that overtook him. “Although like I said. The whole thing has a certain irony about it. Mother’s left with only me now, and now she _praises _me. All empty words, but entertaining nonetheless. And the Templars as a unified order is gone…As long as that’s my legacy, I will be okay with that.” He leans over and gives Dorian a soft kiss on the forehead. “Sorry, suddenly I’m really tired. Goodnight Dorian.” He says, clearly tired and exhausted from the heavy conversation they’ve embarked on and finished up.

“Goodnight Amatus.” Dorian replies back quietly as he lays his head on his chest and lets his eyes close.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and a kudo!


End file.
